Warnings About Interland -- Read Before You Sign Up
Written: Apr 25 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: None
Cons: Slow connections, no script support, abusive customer service
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| tom's Full Review: Interland Feature Plus Web Hosting |
I run a small Internet eCommerce site with several friends. We provide news and information about a college sport and sell sports gear through the site. We spent a lot of time investigating ISP's, looking for a balance between price and features. We didn't need sophisticated platforms or dedicated servers -- just a reliable connection and basic support. We did not find this with Interland.
I can not warn you away from Interland enough. Amazingly slow server ping times, abusive customer support, and absurd business practices.
The story is best told by including a copy of a letter that my co-founder was forced to write to Interland. It documents our entire experience.
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Dear Sir or Madam:
I am writing to request a refund for the unused portion of my current contracts. I am requesting a refund because Interland has ceased serving my main website, and has repeatedly ignored requests to restore service. After I receive my refund, I will cancel my accounts and move my business elsewhere. This email describes how my website was taken down, the actions I've taken to reach a resolution, and the failure of Interland to respond.
My website has been taken down by the Abuse Department. As of this writing, there has been no service for at least 2 full days. We run an e-commerce website, and downtime costs us money. I'd like to be absolutely clear on this point: we have lost revenue because of this interruption of service. It is clear that Interland's failure to resolve this situation, or even to respond, in a timely manner has led to financial damages to my company.
The website was taken down by Abuse due to server resource usage. I arrived at work on Monday morning (4/24) to find an email timestamped almost 24 hours earlier. This email contained an angrily worded message from "Jonathan" at the Abuse department warning me that my website would be taken down that evening. The original warning message was sent on Easter Sunday, during which time I was observing a religious holiday, so I did not receive the warning until after my website had been taken down. Is it the policy of Interland not to recognize religious holidays? If so, what religions does Interland not recognize?
I have made several attempts to resolve this situation. First, I replied to the sender of the email to find out what sort of resolutions were available to me. I expressed my frustration with the timing of the message, and my confusion as to why such simple, standard scripts could tax a modern server so heavily. This reply was sent to "root@unix2502.interland.net" at 8:33am on 4/24. This message was cc'ed to my account rep, Lionel Hodge. I then forwarded a copy of the same message to "abuse@interland.net" (at 9:00am), and left a telephone message with Mr. Hodge. I soon received an auto-reply from Abuse, which confirms the date and time of my original email. As of this message, well over 30 hours later, I have received no response of any kind from either Abuse or my account rep.
My next attempt to resolve the problem was to contact Technical Support. I called the Technical Support line, waited through the queue, and spoke with a representative named Raymond. He told me that he could not do anything for me, at which point I spoke with Tony Owens, his technical lead. Mr. Owens also took no action, telling me that my only recourse was to contact the Abuse Department via email at abuse@interland.net. They claimed that the only way to contact Abuse is by email, and that the Abuse Department does not have a telephone. I asked that the record for this call reflect my dissatisfaction with the service I've received. Technical Support sent me an email shortly after this phone call telling me that my Incident had been resolved. I disagreed with this assessment of the situation, and registered my feedback through your online Incident feedback system. For your reference, the incident was #17886.
This morning, I phoned the Interland Billing Department, and inquired as to the process of cancelling my account and obtaining a refund for the unused portion. I spoke with a representative named Mary, who took instructions from a manager named Tony Iiyas. Again, I was told that my only recourse was to contact abuse@interland.net. I asked that a manager call me back, and that the record for the call reflect my dissatisfaction with the way this incident was being handled.
As of this email, I have received no response from the Abuse Department, Technical Support, a Billing manager, or my Account Representative. My website is still down, and I have not been advised as to how I can restore service. This is an unacceptable level of service. I would like to cancel my account and get a refund of the unused portion of my contract. To be clear: I will consider the situation resolved if I get a refund of the unused portion of my original purchase price. Under the Interland Service Agreement, this is a remedy available to me. I have enough problems to solve as a result of this downtime, so at this point all I want is to cut my losses and leave. If we can resolve the problem in this manner, I will not take legal action to recover lost revenues resulting from this downtime.
Every hour that goes by without any effort by Interland at resolution costs my company more money. I have made several efforts to resolve this issue, all of which can are documented and conducted through official channels. There is a clear record of unresponsiveness here, and failure to provide service in good faith. All I want is to cut my ties with Interlant and move my business elsewhere. Please reply at your earliest opportunity so that I can start fixing the damage this has caused my business.
Sincerely,
XXXXXXXXX
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There you have it. Decide for yourself.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
tom
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Member: Tom Fallows
Location: San Francisco, CA
Reviews written: 19
Trusted by: 150 members
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